Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chanelle Kazadi . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Chanelle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I was always nervous on starting my own career because where I’m from you don’t see people making it out. I always loved music & was deeply inspired by it but the idea that it could be a career was far from my mind. I was really sports-focused for the first part of my life, but around 2017 I started hanging out more in creative circles. That made me want to step outside my confront zone and record my first song “Piano Heartbreak”. It wasn’t really supposed to be a big deal at first but when I started getting all this positive feedback on SoundCloud it flipped the switch in my brain. I can be hesitant to do stuff at first but once I decide I wanna do something, I throw everything into it. Every release after that kept building up my confidence & now I can’t imagine doing anything else.

What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc.

I’m most proud of how I keep going. A lot of people stop really quick when they don’t see whatever success they think they were gonna get overnight. This is such a crazy industry to break into & it takes a really long time to get things in motion. I’m so proud to have been able to tour & perform all over the country because so few people get to do that. I’m especially proud since I don’t fit into what the mainstream expects a rapper to look like or talk about. It would’ve been a lot easier to quit & work a regular ass job but this is what I love to do & I’m gonna do this for as long as I can.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think it’s hardest for people to grasp that music can actually be a career. I’m from a small town where people don’t have a lot of opportunity so music seems super unrealistic as a career. Most people think it’s a pipe dream so you don’t really get respected or validated when you tell people what you want to do with your life. I also think it’s hard for people to get that it’s more than just a career, it’s also a passion. Most people where I’m from abandoned their passion a long time ago or never got the opportunity to find a passion in the first place. I think that’s the biggest reason why people don’t understand. When you add in that I’m a queer black women, it’s gets even harder for people to see what I’m after cause they’ve never really seen any one like me try to do this.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One thing I had to learn was that people aren’t going to be as invested in your dreams as you are. It’s hard not get excited about what you’re working on & feel like everyone else should be excited about it too. Creating is about collaborating & there has to be something in it for the person you’re working with. If they’re not being valued properly, you can’t expect them to invest in what you’re doing as much as you are. It gets especially confusing when you yourself aren’t necessarily getting the return you would want from your projects. Just cause I’m working basically for free or even at a loss sometimes, I can’t expect others to do the same. But once I started to learn this I began to see the real beauty of the music community. We all gotta help each other cause there’s not enough opportunities for everyone out there, but we can share as much as we can. I think there’s real beauty in that.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chanellekazadi.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/chanellekazadi
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/nellekaz
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/chanellekazadi
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/ChanelleKazadi

Image Credits
photographer – Michael Keller-Perry Instagram – @michaelkellerperry Twitter – @mkellerperry